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Vibration, oculomanual coordination & traumatic injuries.

Authors

Martin-BJ; Armstrong-TJ

Source

Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R01-OH-002967, 1994 Aug; :1-67

Link

NIOSHTIC No.

20000985

Abstract

The overall objective of this study was to emphasize the often ignored or neglected role of movement errors in accidents occurring in vibratory environments. The general hypothesis is that vibration-induced modification of sensory messages, used by the central nervous system to control and regulate sensorimotor activities, contribute to the alteration of both movement accuracy and oculo-manual coordination. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) Involuntary motor activities, such as reflexes, are significantly affected during vibration; 2) Vibration-induced alterations of reflex responses varies with vibration frequency; 3) Involuntary muscle contraction induced by vibration exposure contribute to muscle fatigue; 4) Sensory perception is significantly affected by vibration; 5) Oculo-manual coordination is significantly affected during vibration; 6) Vibration-induced alterations persist after exposure and vary with intensity; 7) Permanent visual control of the upper limbs should compensate to some extent vibration-induced affection of other sensory modalities and contribute to performance improvement; 8) Vibration displacement amplitude should exhibit a high correlation with performance decrement over the 80-200 Hz frequency range, and; 9) Sensorimotor performance should be less affected by high frequency vibration (>200Hz). Withdrawal reflex, tonic vibration reflex, manual reflex, and oculo-manual coordination were studied. Overall, vibration displacement amplitude as low as 0.2mm can produce strong alteration of sensorimotor performances; frequencies about 100 Hz produce the largest effects. Furthermore, visual control of the hand appears to be a necessary condition to limit the vibration-induced degradation of manual tasks but this condition is not sufficient. Finally, dissociation between perception and motor responses suggest that subjective evaluation of vibration-induced discomfort, risk or self assessment of performance during and immediately after vibration exposure should be carefully scrutinized.